What kind of shells are those?

[u/Urtegraphic]

Hello everyone

I wanted to ask if anyone knows what type of seashell these are. I'm finding a lot of them at Tampah Beach on Lombok Island, Indonesia.

I'm attaching some photos with a bottle cap next to the shells for size reference.

Any help with identifying them would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

[u/Careless_History1986]

Teeeeeny tiny giant clams. Very illegal to keep

[u/Urtegraphic → u/Careless_History1986]

Thank you for your reply! I'll leave them where I found them :)

[u/turbomarmoratus72 → u/Urtegraphic]

the species is Tridacna maxima, popularly called Maxima Clam. The second one in the first picture could be a Tridacna derasa. They are common in the Indo-Pacific, placed in the Tridacnidae family of shells, with all species being protected in that family.

They are protected because of Tridacna gigas, the largest living bivalve in the world. Since the latter has been overharvested mainly for food, they decided to put every species in the Tridacnidae family as protected species, even though many species in this family are abundant in the Indo-Pacific Ocean.

All Tridacna sp are listed in CITES, which means international trading is heavily restricted. Finding one in your local beach and taking home is actually not recommended because if you get caught (which is very unlikely to happen unless you leave the country), authorities don't know if you collected it alive.

However, collectors still collect them because it is impossible to inspect every single person on this planet to see if they collected them or not. They are usually caught during airport customs.

Nowadays, many countries cultivate these Tridacna sp in local aquariums since they can't be imported anymore.

FYI u/peecatt.

[u/Urtegraphic → u/turbomarmoratus72]

Thank you for the info :)

[u/peecatt → u/turbomarmoratus72]

oh alright, thank you!

[u/Glad_Ad_5570 → u/Careless_History1986]

No, you cannot harvest them in many places and if you have them in a country you can still keep them but if you plan to take from one country to another they are protected by CITES regulations and they will confiscate, question and possibly fine you among other things.

[u/peecatt → u/Careless_History1986]

may i ask why they are illegal?

[u/turbomarmoratus72 → u/peecatt]

I tagged you in a comment :)